Showing posts with label Eyecon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eyecon. Show all posts

Monday, November 12, 2018

Monday Afternoon QB'ing Musings: Cons, Meet & Greets and Money Wars




Are any of you starting to feel a bit of pocketbook pain from the rapidly increasing costs associated with attending your favorite fan convention these days?  

Take for instance, one of the top dogs on the convention circuit, Creation Entertainment, which sponsors most of the Supernatural gatherings.  In April 2019, for the Chicago con alone, the Copper weekend admission package will cost $429 (and that's early bird pricing subject to increase at any time!).   Of course the Silver and Gold packages will be even higher. And this doesn't even include photo ops or other scheduled events.  Want a tour of Chicago while you're in town with Rob Benedict as tour guide? That'll set you back another $349.  

By comparison, back in the year 2015 at the Supernatural San Francisco convention, I paid $509 for a Silver Package (which included an autograph from Jared and Jensen), plus $249 for a J2 Sandwich photo op (both Jared and Jensen).  Now, at the Chicago 2019 convention, what price is being charged?  How does $429 for a duo photo op sound?  "Due to time constraints", Jared and Jensen will only be signing autographs for the Gold and Silver package holders".  So, the price for the Gold package?  $1,025.00  The Silver?  A paltry $629.  Again, Creation tells everyone these are "early bird" prices and subject to scalping, I mean increases.

More like,


Isn't it?  LOL!  Geez, I think I would have to dip into my 401K to be able to even attend a Supernatural convention these days.  And with the stock market plunges that have been happening, no thanks, I need something to retire on, fellas!

Interestingly enough, Creation tells everyone that there will be fewer conventions in 2019 than in the past, so "you do not want to miss out!"  Hmmmmm, wonder why???  *wink*

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With our OTP half Jake Gyllenhaal FINALLY confirmed for the role of Mysterio in Spiderman:  Far From Home, 


the prospect of Jakers needing to appear at Comic Cons and Wizard Worlds looms ahead as likely pretty necessary.  So, perhaps Jake might be testing the waters with this little trial run to see how these arranged fan encounters work:

Woohoo!  Here's your chance to meet Mr. Jake while he is in New York City next winter.  Let's see what one gets with a winning bid.



YOU ARE BIDDING ON:

Two Tickets and Meet & Greet with Jake Gyllenhaal in Sea Wall/A Life

Two tickets to meet Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal in the production of Sea Wall/A Life (January 26-March 24, 2019) starring him and Tom Sturridge at the Public Theater in NYC.

Experience to be scheduled on a mutually agreed upon date between January 26, 2019 - March 24, 2019 based on production availability; flexibility in scheduling is advised. Exact seat location may not be determined until the day of the event. Brief meet and greet for the 2 ticket holders only. Background check required for winner and guest within 24 hours of purchase. Travel and accommodations are not included. This item may not be resold or re-auctioned in any circumstance.



A background check may be required for the winner and guest. If the winner fails the background check, he/she will forfeit the prize. Please bid accordingly. This package does not include any items/services that are not detailed in the above description. Any travel, meals or accommodations are the sole responsibility of the winner. This package must be for use by the winner only unless given as a gift. If given as a gift, the recipient's name must be provided immediately following the auction. Otherwise, this is not transferable by the winner and may not be sold, otherwise transferred or used for any other purpose, including promotional, commercial, advertising, or other trade purposes. Respect for talent and their staff will be expected at all times. Inappropriate behavior by the winner could result in the immediate conclusion of the experience with no refund.

Hmmm.  Okay, so you won't have any idea of where you're sitting until possibly when you pick up your ticket. And a mutually agreed upon date, but basically the fan will need to concede on this point.

 And....a background check.  Wait, a what?

via Gfycat

Note in the tiny writing in the last paragraph, the background check is listed as "may be".  But up in the big writing, it's downright going to be required.  So, if you're thinking of bidding on this opportunity to meet Jake, better pay up those credit card bills, renew the green card, and don't eat any poppyseed muffins in case a drug test is required!

I don't know why, but I suddenly have the urge to sing "The Way We Were".  ♪ Can it be that it was all so simple then, or has time rewritten every line, And if we had the chance to do it all again...♫♪

 By the way, bidding right now is at $2,125.00 for this "opportunity".  Guess that leaves M&M and me out, as the business expense kitty for Narnia Dispatches is presently in the red right now.  LOL!!!

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And then there's these doggone One Tree Hill conventions, of which I have now attended one as a paying guest (along with Florida Tom!) and been able to see actor Austin Nichols.  I wrote about the experience in a two-part March 2018 post called Austin Nichols Makes a Return Visit to an Old Dearheart - One Tree Hill's Wilmington NC.    Eyecon was the event show runner and while it had its delay issues, once Sunday arrived and we had a chance to meet Austin, the experience was a positive one.  

 It was barely a month later, however, before a loud ruckus was raised on Twitter involving Hilarie Burton, Sophia Burton and Eyecon.  I watched the battle evolve on social media, gain steam, and then leap off the high dive platform of national media, noted in our April 8 post, Sunday Evening Almost Monday Morning Musings - Nibbles 'n Bits.  The whole heated snark fest began with an obvious black-eye pelting of the convention show runner, Eyecon and ended with someone coming up with an "alternative" event.  

 Things quieted down, or so it seemed, until this past week when a tweet caught my eye and what did the tweet lead me to, but yet another Hilarie Burton rant and verbal lashing out against Eyecon.  



Lee Norris had issued this professional statement through a podcast twitter account:





 Then, it looks like "Hil" recruited her "husband" JDM to contribute.  This one made me chuckle, I have to say because the credibility is already shot by the "honest as they come" statement.


"as honest as they come."   Really, Jeffrey?  Are you sure about that one?

 Certainly, Lee's tweet was well-written and without explicit disparagement, but Hilarie's above had to fire off a Sophia Bush-like "Don't F with" index-finger-point-to-the-chest jab warning shot.  

When you see accounts just created in March 2018, with tweets devoted to the Hatfields/McCoys mudslinging, you begin to see that this story is not going to have any kind of happy ending. 




 


 


 

Nope, no happy ending for anyone.  It's only going to intensify and there will be loyalty pullings towards the actors, peer pressure applied, intimidating fan twitter accounts created and lotsa cursin'.  A live look at one of the sides right now,

Without any of us being privy to the contract signing dinner, private email chains, texts and whatnot, who's to say what is being exaggerated, conveniently omitted, embellished, and/or straight-out lied about.

Now no one is suggesting that EyeCon is perfect.  And no one is saying the record books have been seen and behind-the-curtain activities witnessed.  But, after looking at the conflict of interest which has occurred already involving Hilarie Burton and One Tree Hill conventions, and witnessing how her "husband" Jeffrey Dean Morgan swears that Sophia Bush is as "honest" as they come, when we here at Narnia can state this is Laffy Taffy stretching of the truth, it's hard not to question what is really going on. After all, Sophia Bush served as a professional beard for Austin for years, and there was allll kinds of deception and outright lying going on throughout the public pairing, lying that actually began before the start of  One Tree Hill's Season 6 and pictures of her with Jake Gyllenhaal and Austin Nichols at the beach in 2006.  Therefore we're pretty sure it might not be the wisest idea to go there, Mr. Morgan.  *wink*  As they say, consider the source when evaluating the veracity of someone's assurances.

Ahem.  *mud slinging alert*!

Narnia will most definitely continue to watch this story as it develops because there is lots of money at stake here for the Hatfields & McCoys.  When 'Hil" and Sophia's Meet and Greets cost $350 each and another $500 to "Paint with Hilarie" [while Lee Norris's photo op only costs $40], well - you can see why both sides of this femme female collaboration are wanting a piece of this potentially very lucrative pie.

Make no mistake about it - money is made at these fan conventions.  So we'll see which One Tree Hill actor receives the next "Red Rover, Red Rover" call-out to cross on over to the other side.


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This was a sad and sincere sounding tweet from Liam's account  on Saturday the 10th,


 

The only eyebrow raiser occurred however, when his story instantly appeared on several gossip site twitter accounts as well.  Mere hours later,



When you find out that this home was supposed to be the "home" that he shared with the beard, coupled with the way the story was picked up by other news sites, could the placement of "Liam's home" have been more about the cementing of his faux relationship with Cheryl Tweedy/Cole/Fernandez-Versini?  



Location wise, you really couldn’t ask for more. The house is situated in the stunning Calabasas region, just minutes from Malibu’s beaches, and your neighbours will include Miley Cyrus, Drake and the Kardashians – could it get any more showbiz? - Liam Payne's House That He Shared With Cheryl Is Up For Sale

Aaaah yes....that story is littered with faux relaysh insinuations.  As we have seen already with Austin Nichols and Louis Tomlinson, Management teams are not below taking advantage of tragedies and deaths in the family to sell narratives, particularly when it comes to the closet.  Which brings us to our final Nibbles 'n Bit.

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Narnia Blind Item:

 A recent story came out following a sporting event involving a rising star player and extended family member.  This rising star is on the cusp (if not there already) of national greatness and it has happened in an astonishingly short period of time.  He is humble, engaging, and appealing.  He also has a girlfriend, one who appeared to play her hand with the subtlety of a Mack Truck.  By merely studying the star athlete's Instagram, not too much looks afoot.  If you study his career and community activities, everything looks tremendously admirable and promising.

 One look at the beard's Instagram page however, and the photo shopping, repeated state of scantily clad activities, dearding pictures, and frequent showing of her long-term relationship with said athlete begin to hint towards her role as more of a long-term beard rather than girlfriend.  

 The "girlfriend's" OTT social media postings were eyebrow raising and she, family members, and the athlete's agent should remember the region where the athlete plays.  Low-key goes over best.  Low-key doesn't draw attention, nor eyebrows.  

 Of course, Narnia reckons this depends on income-driven aspirations (i.e., endorsements) further down the road.  

 Then again, it might be worth pausing to take a look at where this similar-looking road took Eric Hosmer last season, when his high powered agent appeared to think he knew what was best for him and his career.  Headlines such as this was the result:

"Eric Hosmer’s first Padres season is a bad mix of more groundballs and more strikeouts"- theathletic.com





pic sources:  Popular Science, idealhome.co.uk, giphy, whsv tv,
                     gfycat
our playlist:  Love is a Battlefield - Pat Benatar
                     Here You Come Again - Dolly Parton
                    White Liar - Miranda Lambert



 
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Saturday, April 21, 2018

Austin Nichols and Lee Norris - You Tube Clips from Return to Tree Hill Apr 2018


Hey, look what I found!  Some folks posted excellent quality video from Austin and Lee Norris' panel at the Return to Tree Hill convention in April.  I thought I would just share them and you can watch. Looks like they're each pretty short and capture one particular question.  Enjoy!!

What episode or arc do you wish you were in?



What is your favorite quote from the show?


I like how Lee kind of nervously chuckled when Austin told him something was kind of hot and sexy.   He looked slightly embarrassed for a second, what do you think?  

What was your favorite episode to film?

The Julian Baker High-Five


Would Julian survive a zombie apocalypse?



And after linking and posting those, then I found this - The full panel:

 
Gold mine in the panel clip above!!!  At 23:00, comes the question where a fan asks them what lesson did they take away from their character and hope that their fans would as well?  And Austin replied right away; he knew what his answer was.  "Find the right person and hold onto them".

Lee Norris murmurs "Who are you holding onto, no just kidding!" and Austin jostles his arm and warns, "Buddyyyy".  LOLL!  I missed that during the panel. 

As the great Yukon Cornelius would say, ♫♪ Gold and Silver. Silver and Gold!♪♫


And meanwhile, as Jake watches that clip, he's doing this...


And here's an extra bonus if you'd like to see.  This is Roberto, Stephen Colletti, and James Lafferty.  I found Robert provided glimpses of being just quite the charming, sharp, sassy extrovert.  He was funny and I really enjoyed their panel.  And you can see how comfortable these guys were to be up on stage in this kind of setting with their fans.
   
Another interesting thing about their panel was at the beginning, you see Robert telling everyone who asks a question, that they needed to say one thing that they liked about themselves.  What was odd was that you'll notice most people couldn't seem to name a trait.  Instead, they said something like how they liked the color of their eyes or some other physical trait.  There was one fan who came through and said she liked that she worked hard for what she had, which was a great comment.  Interesting, isn't it?  Do we find it hard to talk about something we like about ourselves?  Something to think about.  Very insightful of Robert, I thought.

 Happy Saturday!! Finding these videos brings back great memories of such a fun Sunday at the convention and a huge thank you to the fans and/or workers for uploading them.

All video courtesy of You Tube
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Sunday, April 8, 2018

Sunday Evening Almost Monday Morning Musings - Nibbles 'n Bits


Good Day to all!  Just a few matters of business this morning today because we can't ignore other news items just because we have 30 Days of Jake and Austin, right?  ;-)

1) When you feel like you're watching puzzle pieces falling perfectly into place...





Such is the case watching this whole One Tree Hill EyeCon vs. Hilarie Burton/Sophia Bush battle, one which began as a Twitter "fan reply" mess, but quickly elevated into a Just Jared/Page Six/US Weekly/Fox News/UPI/PopSugar  and People.com exhibition.  When you see a story escalate to such visibility, there's a reason.  

Even before Eyecon3000 took place in March 2018, One Tree Hill fans were badmouthing Eyecon on Twitter left and right:






And there were plenty of tweets which repeated how former regular Hilarie Burton would never attend an EyeCon event:


 


 

"pretty common knowledge for a couple years now"?  Well, that's interesting.  


 

 

Three years ago, which would have been in 2015.  Hmm, must have been right after she attended the first Eyecon Return to One Tree Hill.


Eyecon held its first One Tree Hill convention in Wilmington NC in 2015:


"EyeCon’s “Return to Tree Hill,” which brought in massive crowds at its first convention last year. The Florida-based company touted it as the first of its kind in the country. It sold out so fast, in fact, that EyeCon scheduled a second event in August before the initial convention had even been staged. And a third, featuring the first appearance of James Lafferty, will be held March 11-13 at the Wilmington Convention Center." - Local Film Producer Promises Personal Perspective to Own One Tree Hill Convention




You don't say, Daffy?  Interesting, isn't it?  EyeCon holds the first One Tree Hill convention in 2015 in Wilmington NC and it is so successful, that it prompted an "idea" from a former producer of the show, Beth Crookham. The concept came from this article "Local Film Promises Personal Perspective to Own One Tree Hill Convention" which is dated February 2016 and followed the large success of EyeCon's first round of conventions. Let's just say that the timing of this "casual" water cooler chat is certainly interesting.

About a year ago, Crookham and some fellow “One Tree Hill” crew members were chatting about how much fun it would be to organize their own fan convention.


And Crookham asked, "[edit] so who better than the people who worked on the show to give them that behind-the-scenes peek?”  Aaaah, indeed!

 In the same article, it becomes clearer there is an association between Crookham and Hilarie Burton.

Crookham explained she and Hilarie Burton, one of the stars of the Wilmington-based show, wanted to give back to future filmmakers.
“Hilarie is all about North Carolina film, and we were talking about how do we give back” Crookham explained. “We started kicking that idea around, and because we're working right here with CFCC in the Wilson Center, somebody said, 'you know, we've got the video and film technology program.'” The "we" sure sounds like Beth Crookham and Hilarie, doesn't it?  Here are Beth and Hilarie on the Inside One Tree Hill Instagram page:

  
Eyecon held its first OTH con in March 2015, followed by one in August.  The company's third event occurred in March 2016, but the fourth, which was to be in July, was going to fall one week before Inside One Tree Hill would hold their first in Wilmington.  As a result, it looks like EyeCon might have made a business decision and moved their convention to Chicago in the fall of 2016.

 Frankly, without being a deeply involved active OTH fan, I'm not quite sure what happened with the new Inside One Tree Hill organization in 2017; it doesn't appear there were any additional conventions, though.  They have a new website and new activities, but something seems to have caused a stall as far as the next One Tree Hill convention. 

 Which brings us to 2018 and the dragging down of EyeCon on social media, which mushroomed after a seemingly "innocent" tweet from a fan who inquired if she could hope to see Hilarie attend a future Eyecon convention:


 
Of course, it was at this same "sistah-hood" which proceeded to be blow-horned on major gossip sites and on Sophia Bush's twitter.  For any of those who would like to read Sophia Bush's cap-filled, angry series of "I've Got Your Back, Burn It Down Sis" rants, please feel free to peruse right here.  

Although Hilarie had attended EyeCon's first convention in 2015, she had not agreed to any of their subsequent events.  She did, however, attend Inside One Tree Hill's convention in 2016, and since the showrunner Beth Crookham refers to her and Hilarie as "we," as stated above, Narnia has to wonder if Burton doesn't have money invested in Inside One Tree Hill?  In other words, is there perhaps a business conflict of interest going on here?

After all, there is big money involved.  In "New One Tree Hill Convention Moves In On Established Event's Wilmington Territory" , written in 2016, Eyecon's Guest Relations Director Autumn Dawn Nierode states that they'd spent about $100,000 locally on the convention (with about 1200 attendees) and these con-goers spent about $500,000 at the event and local businesses.   That's a pretty good return and chunk of change, isn't it?  Daffy?


So.   What now?   Well, perhaps Hilarie Burton gave a clue with this reply tweet to Sister Sophia Bush:


 

"We'll figure out something fun to meet up for."  

I'm sure there will be something lined up.   I know that we here at Narnia are waiting to see just what that something might be. [Insert Daffy Duck, bulging $$$ eyes gif here.]


2)  Supposedly Jake was in attendance at a ritzy, swingin' wing ding in San Francisco, CA on Thursday evening, April 5.  We have stills and one 2 second video of Jake at the affair which was to celebrate the launch of the Santos de Cartier, of which Jake is the face of.



????


 

When there were folks like Lily Collins, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Sienna Miller, Aaron Paul, Jeremy Renner and Liev Schreiber in attendance, well, let's say that there should have been no shortage of folks for Jake to be seen schmoozing with.   But instead, what do we have?  Green Screen material:


 

and pre-recorded "Tony's Hottie" videos like this:


 

Any other sign that Jake was really there?  M&M consulted the San Francisco Chronicle and here's what they had to say about Jake's alleged presence:



Jake Gyllenhaal, the face of the Santos, showed off his timepiece on the red carpet, then was quickly ushered away before answering questions. News of his presence quickly spread to the main party with more than one fan starting search parties to find the actor. - San Francisco Chronicle source
 

Alrighty then.....

Let's put it this way, in actuality this was Jake the face of Santos de Cartier's and his team phoning it in that night:


3)  In flick news, Jake has another future project lined up, Welcome to Vienna:


 

If you're curious about the premise, Welcome to Vienna is described as:

The plot centers on a civilian surveillance contractor named Freddie Makin (Gyllenhaal) who is suddenly hunted after acquiring some intel about a Chinese academic. As unknown agents break into his home and attempt to take his life, Makin realizes that he must have witnessed something he shouldn’t have. This opens up a slew of questions about who hired him in the first place and the people currently after him. Further complications arise because Makin himself has something to hide: a “past he’s running away from.” - source


Looking forward to a new week and perhaps some new music from Zayn Malik.  

And we'll leave you with these ponderings...What will Harry Styles' next suit look like?  Donde esta Liam Payne?  Why won't Kris Allen venture west of the Mississippi River?  When will Louis Tomlinson be freed?  Will Spn_Goss ever turn another web page or remain on Page 2 this entire week?

Stay tuned for answers to these questions....no, no, no, no!!!  We don't have the answers, lol.   Enjoy your Monday!  Hours are countin' down!
via GIPHY 


sources:  WECT.com, Star News Online, Port City Daily, WBTV.
               com, Giphy,  GrabCAD, Inside One Tree Hill Instagram
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